Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standardizes data protection law across all 28 EU countries and imposes strict new rules on controlling and processing personally identifiable information (PII). It also extends the protection of personal data and data protection rights by giving control back to EU residents. GDPR replaces the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive, and goes into force on May 25, 2018. It also supersedes the 1998 UK Data Protection Act.Continue reading

When I first attended Davos in January 2013, I asked everyone I met if they’d heard of the term “sharing economy.” Ninety percent of people said no, 5% assumed I was talking about barter exchange, and the remaining 5% acknowledged new technologies and peer-to-peer networks were enabling emergent business models. It was difficult to find anyone who had used Airbnb or BlaBlaCar. Later that year I co-founded the Forum’s Sharing Economy Working Group with other Young Global Leaders, with the goal of building awareness, visibility and expertise throughout the Forum’s communities.

You invested tons of money to develop a new capability in your software. It passed all QA tests, from functionality to performance to security. But customer calls are streaming into your support team, each complaining about how the new release has negatively affected the user experience. The software generates defects if customers use your product in a way that was not specifically tested by R&D, such as in different environments or when run on alternative configurations.Continue reading

Big corporations need new strategies in a world of digital disruptors. That means setting ambitious visions and coming up with concrete action plans. The new C-suite mantra: “What’s your play?”Continue reading

There seem to be tons of books out there that claim to be “perfect” for the Product Manager and those wanting to move into a role in Product Management. There are also reading lists across the Internet — some better, some worse. I’ve found the following 18 books to be essential reading for anyone who is or wants to be a Product Manager; the list is in no way a complete list of all the great books, but a shortlist of those that I think are absolute must-reads.Continue reading

Design thinking is the biggest buzzword in the design world since flat design. Everyone is talking about it… even non-designers. So what is design thinking? Is it important? Should you care?

A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of “exit.” The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.Continue reading

Companies are finding new ways to improve the way they run. One of those ways is rethinking the way the company is structured and review the opportunities for career progression. In the most basic form, companies have the choice of opting for a flat or hierarchical structure.Continue reading

Financial New Year’s resolutions are really common, but they can be some of the toughest to stick with. If you choose the right resolutions, though, and use the right tools, you should be able to make a big positive difference in your finances this year.

Here are seven different resolutions you might make and a bunch of resources that will help you out.Continue reading

If you don’t regularly read Steve Denning’s work, you should. He’s one of the better writers on the future of work. In an article he wrote for Forbes last week, he starts by stating that the Agile product development method has gone mainstream, but poses the question as to whether it has now become a fad like so many other management theories. His conclusion is that Agile is not merely a fad because,Continue reading

If you thought personality was intrinsic and immutable, chances are you were wrong! Personality does change with age and there is an entire trajectory of traits that dominate a person’s behavior depending on his or her generation. Based on user responses to Good.Co’s personality survey, we were able to unearth personality trends based on age.Continue reading

Good leaders must lead by example. By walking your talk, you become a person others want to follow. When leaders say one thing, but do another, they erode trust–a critical element of productive leadership. Here are 10 of the many ways to lead by example.Continue reading

Whether you are starting a new business or looking for more insight into your existing company’s prospects, you probably have questions about the competition. One way to answer those questions is by using Porter’s Five Forces model.Continue reading

Tony Robbins says he “lives for breakthroughs.” Whether you want to engage in healthier relationships, shed some pounds or build a successful business, we all have the power to boost our chances at success in every aspect of life. Robbins says breakthroughs share three steps, all equally important:Continue reading

The billion-dollar tech startup was supposed to be the stuff of myth. Now they seem to be … everywhere.

Stewart Butterfield had one objective when he set out to raise money for his startup last fall: a billion dollars or nothing. If he couldn’t reach a $1 billion valuation for Slack, his San Francisco business software company, he wouldn’t bother. Slack was hardly starving for cash. It was a rocket ship, with thousands of people signing up for its workplace collaboration tools each week. What Slack needed, Butterfield believed, was the cachet of the billion-dollar mark.Continue reading

In the 1980s and 1990s I placed hundreds of people in management positions. A few dozen got quickly promoted multiple times. I met up with one of them last week who’s now an EVP with an F250 company. Many of the hiring managers who hired these people had similar track records of success. Coincidently, I was at a business conference with a number of them last month. These two events got me thinking about all of these people – the hundreds and the dozens – and what they had in common.Continue reading

With millions of websites out there, getting visitors to your site is often the biggest challenge for business owners. Your strategies for doing so may include search engines, paid search services, and affiliates. Let’s consider them one at a time.Continue reading

New year, new business. If you’re like most people who dream about starting their own business, finally taking that leap is likely one of your New Year’s resolutions. For many would-be entrepreneurs, however, not knowing what kind of business to start is holding them back. Having the entrepreneurial spirit running through your veins is rarely enough — entrepreneurs also need a great business idea to make their dreams come true.

Here are plenty of great small business ideas to get you started.Continue reading

My boss screamed at me in front of my colleagues. I had done something wrong of course. I had sent a product to the client without debugging it thoroughly. It was my fault. But I don’t like being yelled at.

And fortunately I was sitting on a job offer that I decided to take that moment. So the next day I said the magic words, “I quit”.

Sound familiar? If procrastination and a lack of focus are problems for you, check out the infographic below by Anna Vital, information designer at Funders and Founders. These 11 tricks to help you get your focus on, if you can pay attention long enough to remember them. Some Cliff’s notes: Classical music and pets are helpful, a cluttered desk and an uncomfortable chair are not.

Entrepreneurs are a rare breed of individuals who are constantly exploring new business opportunities. Some seek out new opportunities on their own while others are constantly being pitched new ideas.

The majority of opportunities, no matter how good they might sound, end up being a complete money-sucking nightmare due to expensive overhead, slow scalability and low margins. Online businesses, however, can be very appealing because they don’t have the traditional hurdles that most new ventures face. The following are four reasons why online businesses are the best investment entrepreneurs can make.Continue reading

Writing a business plan may sound difficult and dull — and by “may,” we mean “definitely” — but it doesn’t have to be. Yes, we know you’re eager to dive right in on that world-changing business idea, but having your strategy on paper is critical.

This diet is based on cucumber salad which you can eat as much as you want whenever you feel hunger. It is ideal for everybody who doesn’t really want to think about what they are going to eat while dieting because the diet plan is really simple. Continue reading

Can one person be both a Product Owner and a Product Manager? After spending nearly three years combining the role, I have now come to the conclusion that the answer is no. It is an “or” – you are either a Product Owner OR a Product Manager. Now, that is not to say that one cannot grow from one role to the other, but trying to perform both functions at the same time can be counter-productive. Here are the reasons that have led me to this conclusion.